Running Away To You
by Stephinator Lynn
Summary: Summary inside... Pam/Jim AU
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So this story is an AU. It came to me and I couldn't get it out of my head. I don't know how focused I'll be, but for know, I can't stop writing it.

Summary: A young mother, running from her abusive husband, gets a job at the front desk of the paper company; Dunder Mifflin.

Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I don't own anything.

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CHAPTER ONE

Pam sighed as she walked into the small one bedroom apartment. This was going to be way too small. She left the giant suitcase, filled mostly with her children's clothes and favourite toys, in the living room and took a look around.

"Mom; there's only one bedroom. Does that mean I have to share with Madi?" Herr little boy asked, poking his head out of the room, his younger sister in tow.

"Yes Brayden, for now you do."

"But I'm seven now. Seven year olds don't share rooms with their four year old sisters." He argued, putting his hands on his hips.

"Brady; your sister needs you right now, you have to take care of her."

"Yeah, you have to take care of me" Madison piped in, running to her mother. Pam picked her up and carried her on her right hip.

"I had my own room back in California." Brayden muttered, going back into the one bedroom in the apartment.

Pam let out a sigh. "Madi, sweetheart, why don't you unzip the suitcase and put some of your movies by the T.V. Pick one you want to watch tonight." Pam suggested, placing her daughter on the ground.

"Ok mommy." Madison skipped over to the suitcase.

Pam walked over to the bedroom to talk to her son. "Hey buddy, I'm sorry about this place." She said, leaning on the door frame.

"I know you are… but I miss my friends."

"You'll make new friends. And there's a school just down the street."

"Is there anything in the kitchen?" He asked.

"You hungry?" Brayden nodded, "I'll order us some pizza." Brayden's face fell. He didn't just miss his friends and Pam knew it. "What's wrong bud? You love pizza."

"I know. I do." Brayden looked down at his hands. "Is it wrong that I don't miss dad?"

Pam composed herself before speaking. She didn't think her son would bring up his father so quickly. "Its not wrong sweetheart. You and your sister are entitled to you own opinions; maybe one day in the future you'll feel differently."

"I don't think so. Madison misses dad though. She told me."

"And that's ok too. She's young and she doesn't understand why we left in the first place."

Brayden sighed. Pam could tell he was getting tired of talking about his father. It was making them both upset and neither of them wanted that. "Tell me about your new job?" He asked, changing the subject like a professional. Pam smiled; she had one smart kid.

"Its not that exciting. I'm going to be answering the phones at a paper company."

"But it has a funny name."

"Dunder Mifflin is funny?"

Brayden laughed. "Yeah it is."

"So, do you want pineapple on your pizza or what?"

"No, pepperoni and mushrooms… You're favourite. Pineapple was dad's."

Pam nodded. "Ok."

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"I know that we're a little bit more expensive that the bigger chains, but with Dunder Mifflin, you are getting superior customer service." Jim Halpert clicked a couple times with his computer. "Yes we do have it in stock… perfect.; we'll have it shipped out to you this afternoon. Thank you for your business."

Jim hung up the phone. "Dwight, why are you staring at me like that?"

Dwight Schrute narrowed his eyes, "who were you talking to?"

"Scranton middle school."

"You got a deal with them?" Jim nodded. "I've been trying to land them for months… Good for you Jim, good for you."

"Uhh, thanks." Jim shook his head; Dwight was insane.

"Umm, excuse me? I was wondering if you could help me?"

Jim turned to the sound of the voice. Never had he ever seen a good looking young woman in the office… ever. This was Dunder Mifflin after all.

"Uhh, yeah. What can I help you with?"

"I have a meeting with Michael Scott? I had a phone interview with him about the receptionist job."

"Did you get it?" Jim asked with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah I did."

"Well, congratulations. Welcome to Dunder Mifflin."

"Thank you."

"Michaels office is just behind me here."

"Did I hear my name?" They both looked up.

"Please don't quit before you start ok?" Jim whispered to Pam.

"Why would I?-"

"Are you Pam Beesley? The receptionist I hired. Man, my ears are awesome at detecting hotness."

Pam looked over to Jim. "Oh."

"Yeah."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam."

Every time Pam answered the phone, Jims ear immediately perked up. She has been working there for a month now and Jim knew he was in love. He listened to her speak every chance he got. They had become fast friends, playing pranks on Dwight, and eating lunch together everyday.

"I'm working. I can't come and pick them up. Can you at least bring them here before you leave?… Yeah, I'll work something out with my boss." Pam sighed, hanging up the phone.

Jim walked over to Pam, taking a few jellybeans out of the container she had at her desk. "Everything ok?"

"umm, yeah. My kids babysitter totally flaked out on me. She's supposed to look after them after school. She bringing them here."

Jim was taken aback. Pam was only twenty-seven. She had never even mentioned anything about being married or having kids. "You have kids Beesley?" He asked.

"Umm, yeah. Have I not mentioned that yet?"

"No, you haven't."

"Do you think Michael will mind?"

"Not at all. It will give him something to do." Jim answered. "So, your husband work late or something?"

"I don't have a husband anymore." She answered simply. She like Jim, she really did, but she didn't want to get into her sob story about her past. She was starting over. Moving on.

"So, do your kids have names?" Jim asked, feeling better now that he knew Pam wasn't married.

"Yeah, I call them thing 1 and thing 2." Jim laughed. "Brayden is seven and Madison is four." Jim was surprised by the ages. "I got married right after high school and had Brady right away."

"Well, I can't wait to meet them"

"They should be here any minute." Pam looked at the jellybean container. "I should probably hide this. I don't allow jellybeans in the house."

"Sugar freaks huh?" Jim smiled. If these kids were anything at all like Pam, he was going to love them.

"Makes them crazy. It's their Tequila or something?"

Jim laughed. "So, what's your Tequila?" He asked her.

"Umm… Tequila?" Pam laughed at her own joke. "Yours?"

Jim popped a jellybean into his mouth before Pam hid them, "jellybeans." He smiled a classic Halpert smile.

Jims phone rang and he left to go and answer it while Pam made a quick call to Michael to ask if her kids could stay at the office for a couple hours. He said 'yes, or course. I love kids!'

"Well, you don't have to entertain them or anything. My son has homework and-"

"Homework is for losers Pam. I'll give them a tour of the office."

Pam sighed. "I'm sure they'd love that." She said, hanging up the phone.

"Don't worry, I'll watch him." Jim said from his desk.

"Thanks."

"Mommy, mommy!" Was heard throughout the office as a little girl, resembling Pam right to the cute little grey skirt she was wearing, came running in; followed by Brayden, small for a seven year old, with light brown hair that was long enough to cover his eyes a bit.

Pam gave her kids a hug. "You two have to be quiet ok? We all have work to do."

"Ok mommy." Madison answered, sitting herself on the carpet next to Pam, pulling out her colouring book and crayons from her little pink backpack.

"Yeah, whatever." Was Brayden's answer. It surprised Pam. Brayden didn't talk like that.

"You ok buddy?" She asked.

"Yeah, fine." Was his gruff reply. He dragged his backpack over to an empty desk and pulled out his homework.

Jim saw all of this. Pam was upset because something was bothering her son. He was good with kids. He could fix this. He looked over to Pam, silently asking permission to go and talk to him. She nodded.

Jim walked over to Brayden who was looking through a large science text book. "Ugh, science. I was horrible at science."

Brayden looked up at Jim. "Its ok. Better than math."

"I wasn't good at that either. You're Brayden right?" He nodded. "I'm Jim."

"Were you good at anything, Jim?" Brayden asked as Pam stifled a laugh."

"I was good at Gym. He answered proudly, making Brayden laugh. "Listen, I'm sure your mom will let you finish your homework at home tonight because I know for fact that the warehouse downstairs just got a big shipment in and I'm pretty sure I can get you a ticket on the fork lift."

Brayden looked up. "Really?" Jim nodded, "cool." He looked to his mom. "Can I mom?"

"Sure. But be careful. Listen to Jim and everyone else downstairs."

"Ok mom." He hopped off the chair and followed Jim out of the office and downstairs.

Once they were gone, Michael came out of his office. "I hear children?" He asked, pretending that he couldn't see Madison.

Madison didn't say anything, thinking that she was being too loud earlier and didn't want to get into trouble.

"Hmm. No kids around. I swear I could have heard- oh well; I was going to buy them some ice cream from the vending machines, but if not, I guess I'll just go back to my office.

"Wait, wait! I'm a kid!" Madison said, running to Michael.

Michael knelt down so he was Madison's height. "And what's your name?"

"I'm Madison and I'm four."

"Four? That's the perfect age for ice cream. Do you like Ice cream Madison?"

"I love ice cream" was her excited reply.

"Why don't you ask your mom if you could go get ice cream with Michael?"

"Mommy, can I?"

"Sure sweetheart."

Michael held out his hand and Madison took it. Pam smiled. Michael was usually do inappropriate, but maybe she was wrong about him…

She looked over at Dwight who was laughing at an email he was reading. "Hey Pam, did Michael send you the email of the two monkeys going at it?" She shook her head. Michael would always be inappropriate.

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As her kids put their coats on, Pam went over to Jim who was shutting down his computer for the night.

"Hey Jim?" He looked up. "Thanks. Brady can't stop talking about all the buttons he got to press when he was on the fork lift."

"No problem. He's a really cool kid. I enjoyed it."

"He was upset earlier when he got here. Now I get to go home with a happy kid. It means a lot."

"Some kids at school were bugging him about his sketchbook. I told him that chicks dig artists."

"Thanks."

"He says he gets it from you. That you used to draw?"

"Uhh, yeah. I used to."

"Mommy! Can we go now? I'm hungry." Madison asked.

"Yeah, lets go. See you tomorrow Jim."

"Yeah, tomorrow."

Jim couldn't wait..

END CHAPTER TWO…

Hope you liked it… I typed it out as fast as I could. I don't know whether or not I want to bring Roy back into the picture, and if I do, is it too early right now.. I need some feedback..

Also, thanks for all the reviews… I don't normally get that many for one post.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

"Brayden, I know you got your report card today. Can I please see it?" Pam asked her son. She had waited until after dinner and he had never brought it up.

"Umm, ok." Brayden came out of his room quietly and shut the door; his sister was sleeping and he didn't want to wake her. He walked over to his mother and handed her the piece of paper.

Pam looked at it. It wasn't even that bad. She looked at her son. For some reason, Brayden looked scared. "Brayden, this is a pretty good report card. An A in Art; sweetie, I'm so proud of you."

"But I only got a C in Science and Math. I tried to study, I really did mom."

"Calm down Brady. I know you did. It's only the first repost card of the year. I was terrible in things like Math and Science."

"I know you were. Dad blamed you when I got bad grades last year." Brayden said, tears welling in his eyes.

Pam held out her arms for her son to walk into. "I want you to listen to me. Bray; whatever happened between me and your father was not your fault; and nothing like that is ever going to happen again."

"But-"

"No Brayden. None of this was your fault. And you don't have to be afraid anymore. I would never hurt you. Especially over this really good report card ok?"

"Ok." Brayden agreed.

"Plus, if you want to be an artist, or a soccer player, you don't need Math and Science." Pam smiled.

This made Brady laugh. "Yeah, Jim from your work said that chicks dig artists."

"He's right kiddo. They do." Pam smiled at the thought of Jim. She shook her head, jumbling the thought. "Hey, how about we have some ice cream before bed?" Brayden nodded. "Ok."

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The following week Pam sat in the break room looking through the Real Estate section of the newspaper. They were way too cramped in their tiny apartment. And all the sleeping on the couch Pam did was giving her major back pain.

"Looking to move already Beesley?" Pam looked up from the paper. Jim didn't know about her current living situation.

"Umm, yeah. I'd like to rent a place with an extra bedroom." She decided to say, alluding to the fact that she already had two bedrooms. "But I'm no good at this kind of stuff. Real Estate and what not."

Jim pulled up a chair. "I'm pretty good. I just helped my brother and his wife buy their new house."

"Really? Would you help me? To rent; definitely not to buy. I mean, if you have time." Pam said quickly.

"Of course I have time. So, are you looking to rent a house or another apartment?" He asked, going into business mode.

"I don't think I could afford to rent a house Jim." Pam said.

"You'd be surprised by what's out there. And you obviously would want something closer to some schools."

"Definitely." Pam smiled. Jim was being so thoughtful.

"Ok, well there are some pretty good places here. I could circle them for you and you could go and check them out."

"Would you go with me?" Jim stared at her. "I mean, what if the place sucks or I'm charged too much. I can be quite gullible."

Jim laughed, "You need a big strong man?"

Pam rolled her eyes. "I've done the big strong man thing Jim, and it didn't work out too well for me."

"Do you miss your kids when they go to see their father?" Jim asked, fishing for a bit of information.

"Umm, they actually don't see their father. He's in Los Angeles. At least, that's where we left him."

"Oh."

"Yeah, but it's a very long story and my lunch is almost over. So, you'll come with me? Maybe look at a few places tomorrow at lunch?" She asked, getting up.

"Yeah, sure. Tomorrow's perfect."

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"Are you two expecting?" The older lady showing Jim and Pam a house asked.

"Excuse me?" Pam asked.

"Are you two buying a bigger house together because you're expecting a child?"

"Umm, no-" Pam started.

"Well; we weren't going to start telling people yet, but yeah we are." Jim smirked. Pam was speechless.

"Oh, that is so adorable. You two will have a beautiful child."

Jim pulled Pam close, his arm around her shoulder. "Thank you." Jim said.

"I'll give you two a minute to look around and discuss some things."

When she left, Pam hit Jim in the chest. "What the hell was that?"

"It was funny. You weren't going to rent this one anyways." He laughed.

"Yeah, ok. But do I look like I'm expecting?"

"No, of course not, you're beautiful."

"Thank you." Pam smiled. She wasn't sure if Jim was mocking or her the truth.

Jim smiled. He was telling the truth alright.

END CHAPTER 3


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